The most popular diet the year you were born

1 of 30

1960

The cabbage soup diet had already been popular for decades, but its lofty claims helped it gain popularity among housewives in the 1950s and early '60s. Eaten three or four times a day, the soup did help with weight loss–if you didn't mind the side effects like dizziness and fatigue. Plus, most of the weight you lost was water anyway—so it was nothing more than a quick fix.

2 of 30

1961

Years before Slim Fast there was Sego. The meal replacement drink was later described as "baby formula mixed with water" (yum!), but it did come in flavors like chocolate, chocolate coconut, chocolate malt, vanilla, strawberry, banana and orange, all at 225 calories a pop. The tagline? "See The Calories Go With Sego."

PHOTO: Google Images

3 of 30

1962

Helen Gurley Brown, in her 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl, recommended a diet composed of mostly wine and eggs. Breakfast was one egg any style, no butter, with one glass of white wine. Lunch added another egg and another glass of white wine. Dinner consisted of one steak and the instructions to finish that glass of wine. The author, who later became the editor of Cosmopolitan, said the diet would make you feel “sexy, exuberant, full of the joie de vivre.”

PHOTO: Amazon

4 of 30

1963

We've all heard of Weight Watchers (thanks, Oprah!) but did you know it started way back in 1961? The story goes that a 214-pound housewife named Jean Nidetch started holding private weight-loss meetings in her home in New York City. The company went public in 1963—and it's still one of the most popular weight loss brands today.

PHOTO: Amazon

5 of 30

1964

Tab, Diet Pepsi, Patio—1964 was the year that artificially sweetened colas hit it big. Just a few years later, seven million cases of Diet Delight fruit cocktail, which used a sweetener called cyclamate, were reportedly pulled from store shelves after a study showed it could cause bladder cancer in lab rats.

PHOTO: Google Images

6 of 30

1965-1966

The Drinking Man's Diet was one of the first low-carb diets—but with a sexist twist. It proposed that eating a diet of so-called "manly" protein-rich foods like steak and lobster, together with tons of alcohol, would result in weight loss. Over two million copies of the book were sold in just two years.

PHOTO: AMC

7 of 30

1967

The Stillman Diet was another low-carb diet published years before Atkins. It allowed lean cuts of meat and low-fat dairy. The diet gained popularity when Karen Carpenter reportedly went on it. She abandoned the diet, but later tragically died of complications from anorexia.

PHOTO: Amazon

8 of 30

1968

By the end of the decade, diet pills were the new diet shake. A January 1968 Life magazine cover highlighted the potential health impacts from taking the pills—but their popularity continued to surge as new drugs hit the market in the coming years.

PHOTO: Life

Advertisement

9 of 30

1969-1973

It's taken many forms and many names over the years, but the grapefruit diet, in which you eat a grapefruit at every meal and sometimes as the entire meal, was a popular weight loss hack in the early 1970s. Any weight loss achieved through the diet was likely attributable to increased fiber and caloric restriction, not any magical component in the grapefruit itself.

10 of 30

1974

In the world of dieting, if it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is. The Cookie Diet was introduced in 1974 and quickly gained popularity because...who doesn't want to eat cookies and lose weight? The diet spread like wildfire once Hollywood got a hold of it. The doctor-prescribed cookies were protein-packed to curb hunger, but did nothing more than create a calorific deficit (which you can achieve by eating something other than six cookies a day).

PHOTO: Courtesy of Brand

11 of 30

1975

After developing heart disease at the age of 42, Nathan Pritikin went on to pioneer a heart-healthy high-carb, low-fat, low-sodium diet. In 1975, he opened the Pritikin Longevity Center in Florida, where patients could stay for weeks while following his plan. Pritikin committed suicide after developing cancer at the age of 69 in 1985, but his autopsy revealed no signs of heart disease at the time of death.

PHOTO: Google Images

12 of 30

1976

The Last Chance diet was a dangerous liquid diet created by Dr. Robert Linn in the 1970s. Though it became quite popular later in the decade (he made $40 million from book and product sales), the FDA ultimately intervened after 30 of the diet's followers died. The concept: drink something called Prolinn, high-protein drink made from slaughterhouse scraps like cowhide and tendon.

PHOTO: Amazon

13 of 30

1977

Elvis Presley was reportedly a fan of The Sleeping Beauty Diet, in which participants were sedated for hours or days at a time. If you're sleeping then you're not eating–except the risk of death, sleep problems and other major health complications makes this diet one of the worst ways to lose weight.

PHOTO: Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

14 of 30

1978

The best-selling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet was published in 1978, but the low-carb, Mediterranean-ish diet it recommended didn't take off until after the author, Dr. Herman Tarnower, was murdered in 1980.

15 of 30

1979

Though founded two years earlier, Slim Fast started to take-off as a diet fad in 1979. Mixed with milk or slurped out of an aluminum can, the creamy and sweet shakes were meant to replace both breakfast and lunch.

PHOTO: Google Images

16 of 30

1980

Ayds appetite-suppressing candies were a popular weight loss product in the late '70s and early 1980s. With an unfortunate name, they quickly disappeared from shelves after the AIDS health crisis early in the decade.

Advertisement

17 of 30

1981

The Beverly Hills Dietsold over one million copies and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 30 weeks after its release in 1981. With a focus on digestive enzymes, followers of the diet could only eat specific fruit for the first ten days. After day ten, butter, bread and corn was allowed. Protein like steak wasn't allowed until day 19.

PHOTO: Amazon

18 of 30

1982-1983/A new diet pill called Dexatrim, which contained the decongestant phenylpropanolamine (PPA) and the amphetamine-like ephedra, hit the market. The formula remained the same until 2000 when it was linked to an increased risk of stroke (like so many other diet pills.)

19 of 30

1984

The Australian company Jenny Craig makes its way to the States and becomes a household name in the early '80s. Celebrities like Valerie Bertinelli, Mariah Carey, and Kirstie Alley have fronted campaigns for the meal-replacement company in the years since, and it continues to be one of the most recognizable weight loss brands today.

PHOTO: Google Images

20 of 30

1985

The current popularity of the Paleo diet can be traced back to 1985, when S. Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner published "Paleolithic Nutrition—A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications" in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1985. The groundbreaking research is considered the precursor to today’s popular Paleo diet, which allows lean meats, nuts, seeds and some fruits and vegetables, but doesn’t allow dairy, grains, and processed foods.

21 of 30

1986-1987

A new book, called Fit for Life, argues that maybe weight loss isn't about what you eat but when you eat it. The authors Harvey and Marilyn Diamond claim complex carbs (bread, bagels, etc.) and protein should not be eaten during the same meal. The book goes on to sell over three million copies.

22 of 30

1988

Elizabeth Taylor releases a self-help book called Elizabeth Takes Off, and naturally the world jumps through hoops to live just like her. Her best diet tip? Eat raw vegetables and dip at 3 p.m. on the dot every single day. Her worst diet tip? Pin a fat picture of yourself on your fridge door. Maybe only try the veggies.

PHOTO: Amazon

23 of 30

1989-1990

In one of the most memorable moments in TV history, Oprah Winfrey wheels a wagon full of fat across the stage of her talk show wearing a pair of size-10 Calvin Klein jeans. The TV legend lost 67 pounds on a liquid protein diet—but the weight eventually came back. Even Oprah can fall prey to a quick diet fix.

PHOTO: Today.com

24 of 30

1991

The early '90s marked the beginning of the misinformed low-fat and no-fat diet era. Even McDonald's got in on the trend, releasing something called a McLean Deluxe, made with a 91% fat-free beef patty.

Advertisement

25 of 30

1992

Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution. The basic low-carb, high-protein formula stays the same but is modernized and updated.

PHOTO: Amazon

26 of 30

1993

Ask anyone who took the pill Fen-Phen in the early 1990s and they’ll tell you that it was crazy-effective for weight loss. But it came with serious and deadly risks. According to WebMD, "the FDA ordered fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine off the market in September 1997 after those drugs were linked to heart valve problems." In 2008, a study showed that the heart valve problems caused by the drug continued to linger even years after stopping the pills.

27 of 30

1994

The United States got a little healthier in 1994. Eat More, Weigh Less, by Dean Ornish helped followers of the whole-food-focused diet shed an average of 25 pounds while consuming more food. Though originally meant to reverse the signs of heart disease in at-risk patients, the diet was one of the first mainstream introductions of a plant-based diet.

PHOTO: Amazon

28 of 30

1995-1999

Barry Sears, a biochemist, creates a diet aimed at reducing inflammation and dropping fat safely over a longterm period of time. He calls it theZone Diet, and soon celebrity fans like Jennifer Aniston put it on the map. To stay in the zone, each meal should have a ratio of 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs with an emphasis on healthy fat, lean means, and unprocessed foods.

PHOTO: Amazon

29 of 30

1996

Can your blood type determine what foods you should and shouldn't eat? Science says no—there's just no evidence to support a diet based on your blood type. But that didn't stop naturopathic physician Peter D'Adamo from creating one of the most popular diets and diet books in the late '90s with over seven million copies sold.

PHOTO: Amazon

30 of 30

2000

There was a time when Jared Fogle was praised as a modern American success story. The man from Indiana dropped a whopping 200 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches, starring in the restaurant's ad campaigns for much of the early 2000s. In 2015, Fogle pled guilty to federal charges of possessing child pornography and traveling to pay for sex with minors.

The cabbage soup diet had already been popular for decades, but its lofty claims helped it gain popularity among housewives in the 1950s and early '60s. Eaten three or four times a day, the soup did help with weight loss–if you didn't mind the side effects like dizziness and fatigue. Plus, most of the weight you lost was water anyway—so it was nothing more than a quick fix.

1961

Years before Slim Fast there was Sego. The meal replacement drink was later described as "baby formula mixed with water" (yum!), but it did come in flavors like chocolate, chocolate coconut, chocolate malt, vanilla, strawberry, banana and orange, all at 225 calories a pop. The tagline? "See The Calories Go With Sego."

PHOTO: Google Images

1962

Helen Gurley Brown, in her 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl, recommended a diet composed of mostly wine and eggs. Breakfast was one egg any style, no butter, with one glass of white wine. Lunch added another egg and another glass of white wine. Dinner consisted of one steak and the instructions to finish that glass of wine. The author, who later became the editor of Cosmopolitan, said the diet would make you feel “sexy, exuberant, full of the joie de vivre.”

PHOTO: Amazon

1963

We've all heard of Weight Watchers (thanks, Oprah!) but did you know it started way back in 1961? The story goes that a 214-pound housewife named Jean Nidetch started holding private weight-loss meetings in her home in New York City. The company went public in 1963—and it's still one of the most popular weight loss brands today.

PHOTO: Amazon

1964

Tab, Diet Pepsi, Patio—1964 was the year that artificially sweetened colas hit it big. Just a few years later, seven million cases of Diet Delight fruit cocktail, which used a sweetener called cyclamate, were reportedly pulled from store shelves after a study showed it could cause bladder cancer in lab rats.

PHOTO: Google Images

1965-1966

The Drinking Man's Diet was one of the first low-carb diets—but with a sexist twist. It proposed that eating a diet of so-called "manly" protein-rich foods like steak and lobster, together with tons of alcohol, would result in weight loss. Over two million copies of the book were sold in just two years.

PHOTO: AMC

1967

The Stillman Diet was another low-carb diet published years before Atkins. It allowed lean cuts of meat and low-fat dairy. The diet gained popularity when Karen Carpenter reportedly went on it. She abandoned the diet, but later tragically died of complications from anorexia.

PHOTO: Amazon

1968

By the end of the decade, diet pills were the new diet shake. A January 1968 Life magazine cover highlighted the potential health impacts from taking the pills—but their popularity continued to surge as new drugs hit the market in the coming years.

PHOTO: Life

1969-1973

It's taken many forms and many names over the years, but the grapefruit diet, in which you eat a grapefruit at every meal and sometimes as the entire meal, was a popular weight loss hack in the early 1970s. Any weight loss achieved through the diet was likely attributable to increased fiber and caloric restriction, not any magical component in the grapefruit itself.

1974

In the world of dieting, if it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is. The Cookie Diet was introduced in 1974 and quickly gained popularity because...who doesn't want to eat cookies and lose weight? The diet spread like wildfire once Hollywood got a hold of it. The doctor-prescribed cookies were protein-packed to curb hunger, but did nothing more than create a calorific deficit (which you can achieve by eating something other than six cookies a day).

PHOTO: Courtesy of Brand

1975

After developing heart disease at the age of 42, Nathan Pritikin went on to pioneer a heart-healthy high-carb, low-fat, low-sodium diet. In 1975, he opened the Pritikin Longevity Center in Florida, where patients could stay for weeks while following his plan. Pritikin committed suicide after developing cancer at the age of 69 in 1985, but his autopsy revealed no signs of heart disease at the time of death.

PHOTO: Google Images

1976

The Last Chance diet was a dangerous liquid diet created by Dr. Robert Linn in the 1970s. Though it became quite popular later in the decade (he made $40 million from book and product sales), the FDA ultimately intervened after 30 of the diet's followers died. The concept: drink something called Prolinn, high-protein drink made from slaughterhouse scraps like cowhide and tendon.

PHOTO: Amazon

1977

Elvis Presley was reportedly a fan of The Sleeping Beauty Diet, in which participants were sedated for hours or days at a time. If you're sleeping then you're not eating–except the risk of death, sleep problems and other major health complications makes this diet one of the worst ways to lose weight.

PHOTO: Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

1978

The best-selling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet was published in 1978, but the low-carb, Mediterranean-ish diet it recommended didn't take off until after the author, Dr. Herman Tarnower, was murdered in 1980.

1979

Though founded two years earlier, Slim Fast started to take-off as a diet fad in 1979. Mixed with milk or slurped out of an aluminum can, the creamy and sweet shakes were meant to replace both breakfast and lunch.

PHOTO: Google Images

1980

Ayds appetite-suppressing candies were a popular weight loss product in the late '70s and early 1980s. With an unfortunate name, they quickly disappeared from shelves after the AIDS health crisis early in the decade.

1981

The Beverly Hills Dietsold over one million copies and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 30 weeks after its release in 1981. With a focus on digestive enzymes, followers of the diet could only eat specific fruit for the first ten days. After day ten, butter, bread and corn was allowed. Protein like steak wasn't allowed until day 19.

PHOTO: Amazon

1982-1983/A new diet pill called Dexatrim, which contained the decongestant phenylpropanolamine (PPA) and the amphetamine-like ephedra, hit the market. The formula remained the same until 2000 when it was linked to an increased risk of stroke (like so many other diet pills.)

1984

The Australian company Jenny Craig makes its way to the States and becomes a household name in the early '80s. Celebrities like Valerie Bertinelli, Mariah Carey, and Kirstie Alley have fronted campaigns for the meal-replacement company in the years since, and it continues to be one of the most recognizable weight loss brands today.

PHOTO: Google Images

1985

The current popularity of the Paleo diet can be traced back to 1985, when S. Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner published "Paleolithic Nutrition—A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications" in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1985. The groundbreaking research is considered the precursor to today’s popular Paleo diet, which allows lean meats, nuts, seeds and some fruits and vegetables, but doesn’t allow dairy, grains, and processed foods.

1986-1987

A new book, called Fit for Life, argues that maybe weight loss isn't about what you eat but when you eat it. The authors Harvey and Marilyn Diamond claim complex carbs (bread, bagels, etc.) and protein should not be eaten during the same meal. The book goes on to sell over three million copies.

1988

Elizabeth Taylor releases a self-help book called Elizabeth Takes Off, and naturally the world jumps through hoops to live just like her. Her best diet tip? Eat raw vegetables and dip at 3 p.m. on the dot every single day. Her worst diet tip? Pin a fat picture of yourself on your fridge door. Maybe only try the veggies.

PHOTO: Amazon

1989-1990

In one of the most memorable moments in TV history, Oprah Winfrey wheels a wagon full of fat across the stage of her talk show wearing a pair of size-10 Calvin Klein jeans. The TV legend lost 67 pounds on a liquid protein diet—but the weight eventually came back. Even Oprah can fall prey to a quick diet fix.

PHOTO: Today.com

1991

The early '90s marked the beginning of the misinformed low-fat and no-fat diet era. Even McDonald's got in on the trend, releasing something called a McLean Deluxe, made with a 91% fat-free beef patty.

1992

Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution. The basic low-carb, high-protein formula stays the same but is modernized and updated.

PHOTO: Amazon

1993

Ask anyone who took the pill Fen-Phen in the early 1990s and they’ll tell you that it was crazy-effective for weight loss. But it came with serious and deadly risks. According to WebMD, "the FDA ordered fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine off the market in September 1997 after those drugs were linked to heart valve problems." In 2008, a study showed that the heart valve problems caused by the drug continued to linger even years after stopping the pills.

1994

The United States got a little healthier in 1994. Eat More, Weigh Less, by Dean Ornish helped followers of the whole-food-focused diet shed an average of 25 pounds while consuming more food. Though originally meant to reverse the signs of heart disease in at-risk patients, the diet was one of the first mainstream introductions of a plant-based diet.

PHOTO: Amazon

1995-1999

Barry Sears, a biochemist, creates a diet aimed at reducing inflammation and dropping fat safely over a longterm period of time. He calls it theZone Diet, and soon celebrity fans like Jennifer Aniston put it on the map. To stay in the zone, each meal should have a ratio of 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs with an emphasis on healthy fat, lean means, and unprocessed foods.

PHOTO: Amazon

1996

Can your blood type determine what foods you should and shouldn't eat? Science says no—there's just no evidence to support a diet based on your blood type. But that didn't stop naturopathic physician Peter D'Adamo from creating one of the most popular diets and diet books in the late '90s with over seven million copies sold.

PHOTO: Amazon

2000

There was a time when Jared Fogle was praised as a modern American success story. The man from Indiana dropped a whopping 200 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches, starring in the restaurant's ad campaigns for much of the early 2000s. In 2015, Fogle pled guilty to federal charges of possessing child pornography and traveling to pay for sex with minors.

The cabbage soup diet had already been popular for decades, but its lofty claims helped it gain popularity among housewives in the 1950s and early '60s. Eaten three or four times a day, the soup did help with weight loss–if you didn't mind the side effects like dizziness and fatigue. Plus, most of the weight you lost was water anyway—so it was nothing more than a quick fix.

1961

Years before Slim Fast there was Sego. The meal replacement drink was later described as "baby formula mixed with water" (yum!), but it did come in flavors like chocolate, chocolate coconut, chocolate malt, vanilla, strawberry, banana and orange, all at 225 calories a pop. The tagline? "See The Calories Go With Sego."

PHOTO: Google Images

1962

Helen Gurley Brown, in her 1962 book Sex and the Single Girl, recommended a diet composed of mostly wine and eggs. Breakfast was one egg any style, no butter, with one glass of white wine. Lunch added another egg and another glass of white wine. Dinner consisted of one steak and the instructions to finish that glass of wine. The author, who later became the editor of Cosmopolitan, said the diet would make you feel “sexy, exuberant, full of the joie de vivre.”

PHOTO: Amazon

1963

We've all heard of Weight Watchers (thanks, Oprah!) but did you know it started way back in 1961? The story goes that a 214-pound housewife named Jean Nidetch started holding private weight-loss meetings in her home in New York City. The company went public in 1963—and it's still one of the most popular weight loss brands today.

PHOTO: Amazon

1964

Tab, Diet Pepsi, Patio—1964 was the year that artificially sweetened colas hit it big. Just a few years later, seven million cases of Diet Delight fruit cocktail, which used a sweetener called cyclamate, were reportedly pulled from store shelves after a study showed it could cause bladder cancer in lab rats.

PHOTO: Google Images

1965-1966

The Drinking Man's Diet was one of the first low-carb diets—but with a sexist twist. It proposed that eating a diet of so-called "manly" protein-rich foods like steak and lobster, together with tons of alcohol, would result in weight loss. Over two million copies of the book were sold in just two years.

PHOTO: AMC

1967

The Stillman Diet was another low-carb diet published years before Atkins. It allowed lean cuts of meat and low-fat dairy. The diet gained popularity when Karen Carpenter reportedly went on it. She abandoned the diet, but later tragically died of complications from anorexia.

PHOTO: Amazon

1968

By the end of the decade, diet pills were the new diet shake. A January 1968 Life magazine cover highlighted the potential health impacts from taking the pills—but their popularity continued to surge as new drugs hit the market in the coming years.

PHOTO: Life

1969-1973

It's taken many forms and many names over the years, but the grapefruit diet, in which you eat a grapefruit at every meal and sometimes as the entire meal, was a popular weight loss hack in the early 1970s. Any weight loss achieved through the diet was likely attributable to increased fiber and caloric restriction, not any magical component in the grapefruit itself.

1974

In the world of dieting, if it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is. The Cookie Diet was introduced in 1974 and quickly gained popularity because...who doesn't want to eat cookies and lose weight? The diet spread like wildfire once Hollywood got a hold of it. The doctor-prescribed cookies were protein-packed to curb hunger, but did nothing more than create a calorific deficit (which you can achieve by eating something other than six cookies a day).

PHOTO: Courtesy of Brand

1975

After developing heart disease at the age of 42, Nathan Pritikin went on to pioneer a heart-healthy high-carb, low-fat, low-sodium diet. In 1975, he opened the Pritikin Longevity Center in Florida, where patients could stay for weeks while following his plan. Pritikin committed suicide after developing cancer at the age of 69 in 1985, but his autopsy revealed no signs of heart disease at the time of death.

PHOTO: Google Images

1976

The Last Chance diet was a dangerous liquid diet created by Dr. Robert Linn in the 1970s. Though it became quite popular later in the decade (he made $40 million from book and product sales), the FDA ultimately intervened after 30 of the diet's followers died. The concept: drink something called Prolinn, high-protein drink made from slaughterhouse scraps like cowhide and tendon.

PHOTO: Amazon

1977

Elvis Presley was reportedly a fan of The Sleeping Beauty Diet, in which participants were sedated for hours or days at a time. If you're sleeping then you're not eating–except the risk of death, sleep problems and other major health complications makes this diet one of the worst ways to lose weight.

PHOTO: Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

1978

The best-selling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet was published in 1978, but the low-carb, Mediterranean-ish diet it recommended didn't take off until after the author, Dr. Herman Tarnower, was murdered in 1980.

1979

Though founded two years earlier, Slim Fast started to take-off as a diet fad in 1979. Mixed with milk or slurped out of an aluminum can, the creamy and sweet shakes were meant to replace both breakfast and lunch.

PHOTO: Google Images

1980

Ayds appetite-suppressing candies were a popular weight loss product in the late '70s and early 1980s. With an unfortunate name, they quickly disappeared from shelves after the AIDS health crisis early in the decade.

1981

The Beverly Hills Dietsold over one million copies and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 30 weeks after its release in 1981. With a focus on digestive enzymes, followers of the diet could only eat specific fruit for the first ten days. After day ten, butter, bread and corn was allowed. Protein like steak wasn't allowed until day 19.

PHOTO: Amazon

1982-1983/A new diet pill called Dexatrim, which contained the decongestant phenylpropanolamine (PPA) and the amphetamine-like ephedra, hit the market. The formula remained the same until 2000 when it was linked to an increased risk of stroke (like so many other diet pills.)

1984

The Australian company Jenny Craig makes its way to the States and becomes a household name in the early '80s. Celebrities like Valerie Bertinelli, Mariah Carey, and Kirstie Alley have fronted campaigns for the meal-replacement company in the years since, and it continues to be one of the most recognizable weight loss brands today.

PHOTO: Google Images

1985

The current popularity of the Paleo diet can be traced back to 1985, when S. Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner published "Paleolithic Nutrition—A Consideration of Its Nature and Current Implications" in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1985. The groundbreaking research is considered the precursor to today’s popular Paleo diet, which allows lean meats, nuts, seeds and some fruits and vegetables, but doesn’t allow dairy, grains, and processed foods.

1986-1987

A new book, called Fit for Life, argues that maybe weight loss isn't about what you eat but when you eat it. The authors Harvey and Marilyn Diamond claim complex carbs (bread, bagels, etc.) and protein should not be eaten during the same meal. The book goes on to sell over three million copies.

1988

Elizabeth Taylor releases a self-help book called Elizabeth Takes Off, and naturally the world jumps through hoops to live just like her. Her best diet tip? Eat raw vegetables and dip at 3 p.m. on the dot every single day. Her worst diet tip? Pin a fat picture of yourself on your fridge door. Maybe only try the veggies.

PHOTO: Amazon

1989-1990

In one of the most memorable moments in TV history, Oprah Winfrey wheels a wagon full of fat across the stage of her talk show wearing a pair of size-10 Calvin Klein jeans. The TV legend lost 67 pounds on a liquid protein diet—but the weight eventually came back. Even Oprah can fall prey to a quick diet fix.

PHOTO: Today.com

1991

The early '90s marked the beginning of the misinformed low-fat and no-fat diet era. Even McDonald's got in on the trend, releasing something called a McLean Deluxe, made with a 91% fat-free beef patty.

1992

Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution. The basic low-carb, high-protein formula stays the same but is modernized and updated.

PHOTO: Amazon

1993

Ask anyone who took the pill Fen-Phen in the early 1990s and they’ll tell you that it was crazy-effective for weight loss. But it came with serious and deadly risks. According to WebMD, "the FDA ordered fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine off the market in September 1997 after those drugs were linked to heart valve problems." In 2008, a study showed that the heart valve problems caused by the drug continued to linger even years after stopping the pills.

1994

The United States got a little healthier in 1994. Eat More, Weigh Less, by Dean Ornish helped followers of the whole-food-focused diet shed an average of 25 pounds while consuming more food. Though originally meant to reverse the signs of heart disease in at-risk patients, the diet was one of the first mainstream introductions of a plant-based diet.

PHOTO: Amazon

1995-1999

Barry Sears, a biochemist, creates a diet aimed at reducing inflammation and dropping fat safely over a longterm period of time. He calls it theZone Diet, and soon celebrity fans like Jennifer Aniston put it on the map. To stay in the zone, each meal should have a ratio of 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs with an emphasis on healthy fat, lean means, and unprocessed foods.

PHOTO: Amazon

1996

Can your blood type determine what foods you should and shouldn't eat? Science says no—there's just no evidence to support a diet based on your blood type. But that didn't stop naturopathic physician Peter D'Adamo from creating one of the most popular diets and diet books in the late '90s with over seven million copies sold.

PHOTO: Amazon

2000

There was a time when Jared Fogle was praised as a modern American success story. The man from Indiana dropped a whopping 200 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches, starring in the restaurant's ad campaigns for much of the early 2000s. In 2015, Fogle pled guilty to federal charges of possessing child pornography and traveling to pay for sex with minors.

Related Content

In the pursuit of slimmer waistlines, we've tried some pretty funny, odd and downright scary stuff over the years. Fad diets are just that—a fad—but there are things to be learned from our past failed pursuits to shed pounds. Here, find out what the diet du jour was the year you were born (it will make you appreciate what we know in 2018 that much more).